Masters 2013: Most Intriguing Potential Winners at Augusta

With so many golfers still in contention for a major championship win at the Masters, there are a few potential winners that would be quite interesting to see putting on the green jacket.

The field still has 13 golfers all within five strokes of the lead, with 22 that are at even par or better. With so many golfers still in contention, a few of them would create some pretty big stories at Augusta.

Adam Scott, Marc Leishman or Jason Day

The reason these three players are together on this list is because all of them are Australian. One of the surprising notes about the Masters is that an Australian native has never won at Augusta (via NBC Sports).

Scott, Leishman and Day are at six-, five- and four-under par, respectively. Leishman led at the end of the first day, while Day led at the end of Friday’s round of play. However, Scott leads both of them right now and is just one stroke behind the lead.

Augusta is a truly magical place in the world of golf. A win by one of the Aussies would make this week’s tournament even more magical.

Fred Couples

Jack Nicklaus was the oldest player to ever win the Masters at 46 years old. At 53, Fred Couples is in the position to potentially break that record.

Saturday was not kind to Couples, and that might severely hurt his chances. He started the day at five under for the tournament, but a 77 in the third round put him back to even par. Things weren’t too bad until the end. He bogeyed back-to-back holes on the 14th and 15th then he triple-bogeyed on the 17th.

Things were looking a lot better at the beginning of Saturday when Couples was in second place. At this point, Couples will need to have a great round and also root for the others atop the leaderboard to struggle. If both of those things can happen, Couples could have his second Masters win, with the first one coming in 1992.

Normally Tiger winning a major championship wouldn’t be interesting or surprising.

That was before he got penalized.

Before play even began, Tiger was assessed a two-stroke penalty for an illegal drop during play on Friday, according to USA Today. Luckily for Tiger, a rule put in two years ago kept him from being disqualified.

The penalty certainly cost Tiger dearly. He’s at three under through the first three rounds, but he would be at five under and just two strokes off the lead if it wasn’t for the illegal drop.

A win would also be Tiger’s first major championship win since 2008. It’s been a long drought for him, and a win would solidify his place in golf once again.